


Stamp

by winterune



Series: The Price of Freedom: Zack Week 2020 [1]
Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Pre-Canon, Puppies, Zack Fair Week 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-23
Updated: 2020-09-23
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:00:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,254
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26617105
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/winterune/pseuds/winterune
Summary: [Zack Fair Week 2020]Zack and Kunsel are on an excursion around Midgar when he heard a canine whine coming from an alley.
Relationships: Zack Fair & Kunsel
Series: The Price of Freedom: Zack Week 2020 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1937266
Kudos: 18





	Stamp

**Author's Note:**

> My entry for Zack Fair Week 2020 Day 1: Puppy/Restless/Stamp
> 
> Unbeta'd and only slightly edited, I'm sorry if it's weird ^^; I'm still trying to find Zack's 2nd Class SOLDIER voice before all the things that happened in Crisis Core. Still, I hope you will enjoy it!
> 
> P.S. Kunsel needs more love :3

Rain poured hard that evening as Zack and Kunsel crossed the street under a red light. People were still moving up and about, holding black or blue or green umbrellas over their heads. When the light turned green, horns blared, and cars zoomed past. A night like any other night in Midgar, as quiet as it could get. Even with the rain, Zack could still hear shouts hollered from one window to another.

It was one of his rare days off and Zack hadn’t quite known what to do with it. He had ended up training in the training rooms or using one of the simulations until Angeal caught him with his sword and told him to rest. _Don’t push your body any more than it needs to_ , he’d said, though Zack hadn’t felt like he was pushing himself too much. Angeal had confiscated his sword and kicked him out of the simulation chamber.

“Let’s go out, then,” Kunsel had said later when he found Zack lounging on one of the benches at the lounge. Zack’s long legs stretched across the floor tiles, his hands laced behind his head as he stared upwards at the sleek gray ceiling. He had looked up at Kunsel’s approach. “Didn’t you say you wanted to buy some things?” So that’s what they did, Kunsel accompanying Zack in an excursion across the city, cut short when the wind began howling and thunders started rumbling.

A soft canine whine rose over the cacophony of the downpour. Zack stopped in his tracks, groceries swaying in the paper bag on his hands. It came from the alley on his left, narrow, with not much light safe for a flickering lamp over a back door to some store. It was enough to show him a box among the trash by the dumpster.

“Zack.” Kunsel, who had gotten head, paused, and looked behind his shoulder. “What’s wrong?”

“Can you come here for a sec?” Zack called back. His laced leather boots splashed across the water pooling over the concrete as he made his way inside the alley.

The box lay on a stack of cardboard boxes, the lid closed, fraying around the edges. Small enough, it seemed, to fit a puppy. And it was already soaked. A soft whimper came from inside, and Zack thought he heard pawing and scraping noises.

When Kunsel reached him, Zack pushed his groceries to his friend’s arms with nothing more than a “Hold this for me.” Kunsel made to protest, but he stopped short when Zack crouched by the box and opened the lid. A puppy lay there, black eyes wide with fear and trepidation. It had long flappy ears with brown and black fur, and a white underbelly. It jumped in surprise when the box suddenly opened, cowering in the corner, and drawing back its teeth in a soft growl.

They stared in silence.

“Poor guy,” Kunsel said, quiet.

Zack moved his umbrella over the puppy and reached his hand out to it. The beagle growled louder, half-whimpering, and moving to bite his finger. Zack drew his hand back.

Kunsel stared at him. “What are you doing?”

“I can’t leave him here.”

A pause. “You’re taking him?”

“Yeah.”

“Animals aren’t allowed in the building.”

He knew that. But it was raining, and the puppy had no home nor food nor owner. Heck, it was trembling just from the sight of him. There was no way he could leave it there.

Zack reached his hand out again, gingerly moving to the back of its head where its teeth and paws couldn’t reach him. The puppy stiffened, its growls sounding more frightened than threatening. But it didn’t back away, and Zack took that as cue that he could keep stroking its head, whispering soothing words until he felt its resistance slowly crumble. When the puppy began nuzzling his hand, Zack’s heart melted.

Balancing his umbrella against his shoulder, Zack picked up the wet beagle from the box. It was thin, the fur sticking to its skin showed jutting bones in prominent places. Still, Zack could see light burning at the back of its black beady eyes. It barked and lapped its tongue against its muzzle, making him smile.

“It looks like Stamp,” he said. He got to his feet, cradling the puppy with one hand while holding the umbrella with another.

“What?”

“Stamp. The mascot—”

“I know who Stamp is,” Kunsel interjected.

“Think that’s what I’m gonna call him.”

Kunsel pressed his lips together. “Zack, I know you wanna help the puppy—”

Zack brought Stamp toward Kunsel’s face, cutting him off. “Tell me he’s not the cutest dog you’ve ever seen and I’ll listen to you.” 

“Zack—” his friend began, but Zack would not budge. His jaws were set, eyes hard. Kunsel sighed then shifted his eyes on the puppy. The puppy stared back, and several silent moments passed with nothing but the sound of rain thrumming against their umbrellas. Stamp broke the silence with its cute little bark, and Kunsel wavered.

“He’s cute but,”—Kunsel nodded at the door with the flickering lights behind Zack—“look, it’s in front of a shop. Why not show him to the owner and maybe he’ll take care of him.”

“Maybe,” Zack echoed.

Kunsel frowned. “So, what, you’re just gonna stroll through the front door with a dog in your hands?”

Not exactly through the front doors. Zack wasn’t that stupid. Maybe the back door? The emergency exit seemed like a plausible option. But Kunsel only stared at him in shocked amusement, finally conceding when Zack showed no sign of backing down.

Still, no animals in the building meant no animals in the building. Even if that animal was abandoned and starving. “You can’t hide him forever and you certainly won’t be left unscathed once they find out,” Kunsel went on.

He was right, Zack knew that. But he had no choice. The puppy needed a warm bath and a good meal and a place to stay. His gaze fell on Stamp, and maybe the dog could read his mind because it was giving him the most adorable, heart-melting puppy-dog eyes Zack had ever seen and there was no way Zack could say no.

“I’ll ask Angeal,” he said, the name popping out from the back of his mind. His mentor would know what to do with it.

* * *

“Angeal won’t allow it, dumbass!” Kunsel hissed at him as they made their way up the emergency staircase of the Shinra Building. Stamp was securely hidden beneath Zack’s shirt, forming a bump over his stomach that he hoped could pass off as having eaten too much. _If the dog doesn’t whine or whimper or_ move _while you’re at it_ , Kunsel had said. It wasn’t _that_ bad of an idea, if Zack could say so himself.

They climbed the deserted ladders all the way to the SOLDIER quarters, two steps at a time once Stamp became restless. Kunsel still held their groceries, while Zack held the bump close to his abdomen. A tiny bark echoed across the endless chamber.

“ _Sshh!_ You’ll be out soon.”

Kunsel reached the landing first and gingerly opened the emergency door. He slipped his head inside. “Coast clear,” he whispered. He pushed the door with his shoulder and held it open for Zack. Cool air hit Zack’s face. Sleek gray ceiling and sleek gray walls, the floor scrubbed so clean he could almost see his reflection on it. They were in the long hall leading to the lounge. Doors on either side set in intervals leading to SOLDIER member rooms. No one was around.

Stamp moved again, letting out a soft whine. Now, to unload their baggage in his room and head for the bathing area. He hoped it was empty.

Kunsel closed the door so softly no one would have noticed anyone had entered through there. Quick, quiet feet—both of them raced through the halls toward Zack’s room. Zack almost exhaled a sigh of relief when they rounded the corner his room would be in, only to stop short when a tall figure entered his line of sight. Slicked-back shoulder-length jet-black hair in the black garb of SOLDIER 1st Class, it was the massive broadsword clipped to his back that drew Zack’s attention. Angeal stood before Zack’s door, hand held out as if about to knock, when Zack and Kunsel’s footsteps faltered. He looked up at their approach.

Kunsel immediately stood at attention while Zack struggled to keep Stamp from making a sound. He found the pup’s muzzle and clamped it shut, cutting short Stamp’s whimpering protest.

“W—What is it, Angeal? I thought you told me to rest.”

“I did, but—” He stared at the lump over Zack’s abdomen. A shiver ran down Zack’s spine, the air felt colder against the sweat now covering his brow. “What do you have there?”

“I—uh—ate too much?”

His mentor quirked an eyebrow. Folding his arms, he set his mouth in a straight line. “And why is that a question?”

Zack could almost hear Kunsel saying, _I told you so_. At that moment, Stamp growled from deep within it throat and shook its muzzle free from Zack’s grip, its bark loud in that quiet, deserted hall. Angeal’s eyes widened for a fraction of a second. And then it came, the death glare that could turn anyone to stone. Zack would hide behind Kunsel if he could, but his mentor had already nodded toward his room. Sharing a glance with Kunsel, the boys silently trudged inside.

Once the door was closed, Zack let Stamp out of its restrictions. The puppy leaped onto the floor, shaking water all over the place.

“A puppy,” was Angeal’s first response. Stamp sat on the cool floor, licking himself dry. His mentor’s gaze moved to Zack. Not exactly reprimanding, but not in approval either. “You brought a puppy to the building.”

“It was abandoned!” Zack protested, turning around with arms splayed on both sides. “It was raining and the box was soaked and Stamp was scared and shivering and hungry—”

“Stamp?”

“The pup’s name,” Kunsel answered from behind him. He hadn’t put the groceries down. 

Angeal spared him a glance, before directing his gaze back at Zack. “You named it?”

“Well, I—”

“Were you going to keep it?”

Angeal’s voice dropped an octave. If looks could kill…

Zack looked at Kunsel for help, but his friend stood helplessly behind his mentor. Kunsel only offered him a shrug and a condolatory smile, and maybe Zack should have listened to him, but there was no way he could have left Stamp behind. Not when someone had dumped the poor pup on the trash with no food and only a sodden cardboard box as a shelter.

Stamp finished licking itself, its fur sticking out on all sides. It looked at him with its big, wide eyes, and seemed to smile. Zack picked him up and held him out to Angeal.

“Look at him in the eyes and tell me he’s not the cutest puppy you’ve ever seen!”

Angeal’s frown only deepened, but Zack set his jaws and he wasn’t going to move until Angeal said he could keep it. He’d probably get a whacking in their next training session, and no mission or assignment for a while, but if that meant Stamp would have a home, then Zack would accept any punishment they gave him.

The silence stretched as Zack and Angeal glared into each other’s eyes, broken only when Stamp barked. Angeal instinctively shifted his gaze toward it. And then Zack watched, gritting his teeth, and waited until the hard gaze would soften and the frown would turn into a smile. Because despite everything, his mentor had a soft spot for dogs. Angeal had even called _him_ a puppy. Zack bet on everything for that to waver his mentor’s mind.

A moment passed, then another, then Stamp let out a soft whine, muzzle reaching out toward Angeal, and Angeal’s frown faltered, transforming into the first hint of a smile.

“It’s cute,” he said. Zack exhaled the deep breath he didn’t realize he had been holding. Angeal stroked the puppy’s head. “But that doesn’t mean you can keep it here.”

Zack had almost grinned, almost sighed with relief because if Angeal had accepted Stamp’s presence, it would have been a breeze going forward. But his grin was short-lived. Angeal’s gaze was uncompromising when he said, “Rules are rules. If you can’t abide by them, you have no business being here.”

“But—”

“So I’ll look for a place where he can stay.” The offer took him by surprise that his mind went blank. Angeal’s face softened. “For now, give the little guy a bath. I believe you’ve bought supplies.” His mentor glanced at the grocery bag in Kunsel’s arms.

Angeal turned on his feet and headed for the door, the Buster Sword on his back zinged as it slid on its magnet clip with each step. Zack broke out of his trance when the door slid open, but his mentor had already disappeared before he could say thanks.

Stamp grew restless in his grip, and Zack put it down. His body felt heavy then, and all he wanted was to sigh and throw himself on his bed.

“Good for you, then,” Kunsel said. He hadn’t moved from his spot by the door, but he was grinning.

Stamp was walking around and sniffing Zack’s stuffs—from the bed, to the drawer, to his desk. Zack grinned back.

“Good for him.”

**~ END ~**

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed it :D Feel free to leave comments/kudos if you find the fic to your liking! Thank you!!


End file.
